Progressive Narrative Fail: Why Are Low Income Workers and the Unemployed Running from High Minimum Wage States to Low Minimum Wage States? | Coyote Blog

Wow, I am totally lost. The minimum wage currently in California is $10.50 an hour, going up to $15 over the next 5 years. The minimum wage in Texas is the Federal minimum at $7.25. If I understand it right from progressives, minimum wages are a windfall for workers that raise wages without any reduction in employment. So why are the very people California claims it is trying to help leaving the state in droves? For unenlightened Texas, of all places.

Of course the reason is that minimum wages do indeed have employment effects.If you think of California as one big rich neighborhood, minimum wages act as a zoning plan to keep the “unwashed” out. Setting a minimum wage of $15 is equivalent to saying, “if your skills and education and experience are low enough that your labor is not yet worth $15 an hour or more, stay out.”

Of course, there are a lot more problems for jobs in California than just minimum wages. At every turn, California works to make operating a business difficult and hiring unskilled workers more expensive. And then there is the cost side. With its building restrictions and environmental rules, most California cities have artificially inflated housing costs, just another way to tell lower income people to keep out.